Saturday, October 30, 2010

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

This past weekend, Aunt Michelle (Jason's sister) and Uncle Jason (Michelle's husband, not to be confused with Daddy Jason) came to visit us from Cleveland. They flew in Friday night and stayed with us until Monday. It was Michelle's second visit and Jason's first time meeting Miles and Vivienne. Michelle and Jason did lots of baby holding, changed diapers, rocked Miles to sleep during a tantrum (major bonus points to Uncle Jason), gave baths and just spent a lot of time enjoying the babies. Miles and Vivienne loved having them here and soaked up all the attention.

There is news on the baby hair front! Vivienne is already growing her hair back! Hip, hip, hoorah! The only problem now is that Miles is starting to gradually lose his hair. His hair line is creeping further and further back, making his little face look like it's getting bigger and bigger. Luckily, though, it looks like he's not going to lose all of his hair.

The weekend before last, my parents came to visit the grandbabies, and my mom stayed through the week to help me, because our amazing doula, Pam, was going out of town. While both of my parents were here, Jason and I went on our first official date. We went to Thaiphoon Bistro in Downtown Raleigh. Dinner was great, and then we went to the Skinny Dip, which is a lot like Pinkberry. We had a wonderful time with just the two of us, even though we did spend a lot of time talking about Miles and Vivienne.

Family photo before our date

My parents really enjoyed spending time with the babies. Grandma always loves to see her grandchildren, and I think my dad particularly enjoyed this visit.

My father had to leave that Monday, but Mom stayed through until Thursday to help me with the babies. We have to say a huge "thank you" to Grandma for holding babies, cooking us dinner (she made my favorite spaghetti from when I was a little girl), doing laundry and just being an all-around stellar grandmother.

Just last week, while the babies were nursing, Vivienne started staring at Miles. Then she started talking and cooing at him! It was so sweet to watch her talking to her brother. They have been holding hands while they nurse for a long time now, but it's fun to see them actually start to try to communicate with each other.

The Sunday before last, I finally wore normal jeans to church. For the longest time, I've still been wearing maternity shorts and jeans because my hips were way too big to get into my old jeans (and I refused to buy jeans a size larger). It's nice to finally be able to wear some of my normal clothes again. I had major muffin top with my regular jeans on, but I earned that muffin top having two beautiful babies, so I'll take it. =) I still need to pack away my maternity clothes someplace. I'm still holding on to them so that I can wear them if when we got for #3.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Aunt Michelle and Uncle Jason (not to be confused with my Jason) are here visiting us this weekend. I told them to bring their walking clothes and shoes so that we could all do our daily walks together - something like 3 to 4 miles. With Jason home today, he convinced us to walk on the greenway all the way to where they are building the new highway 540. Our round trip was 5.75 miles according to my GPS! The babies actually managed to sleep almost the entire trip. I couldn't believe that they hung in there for that entire time. (Usually I have to carry one of them in the Baby Bjorn or the ring sling for at least a couple miles.) I think we're all a little sore (except for our Ironman, of course).

Monday, October 18, 2010

Today, Miles and Vivienne are three months old. How in the world are we suddenly at three months? In some ways, it feels like they were born yesterday, and in other ways, it feels like they have been a part of our family forever.

My Happy Man

Miles is growing like crazy. He's getting a lot more coordination in his hands. When we hand him a rattle now, he will hold it for up to ten minutes sometimes (and other times he drops it after about 30 seconds). It's neat to see him able to hold his grip for such a long time. He is starting to get much better neck control. When he's in the carrier or the sling, he can hold his head up for a very long time - looking around at the house or the trees while we're out on our walks. Miles is just starting to coo more, talking to his daddy and his grandparents. It's so amazing to hear his sweet little voice. His smile is infectious.

Vivienne is still our petite little angel. She has a face like a dream - just an incredibly beautiful baby. She seems to have the biggest eyes any baby has ever had... gorgeous blue (at least for now) eyes. Vivienne has been our chatty little baby for quite a few weeks now. She loves to flash her sweet smile and make coos and squeals as she talks to us. Just last night, she looked over at Miles while she was eating and started trying to talk to him. Of course, he was completely oblivious, but it was so cute to see her clearly trying to communicate with her brother. Like Miles, Vivienne loves to take baths, especially when Daddy is bathing her.

We've been blessed with our little babies in our lives for three months now. I can't wait for the upcoming months and years. I only hope that I can love them and raise them to the best of our abilities. This is truly the most important job I have ever had.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Over the past couple of weeks, Miles and Vivienne's Grandma (Lila, Jason's mom) was here to visit. She was a wonderful help with the babies, and it was really fun for me to get to know her better. We spent a lot of time together while Jason was at work during the week. She went on our walks with us, did lots of baby-holding (which is so helpful!), rocked the babies to sleep, changed diapers, cooked dinner, helped with laundry... the list goes on. Thanks, Grandma, for coming to visit us! We can't wait to see you again!

I was curious as to how much the largest twins at birth weighed, so I looked it up online.

The biggest twin babies were born to the Haskins in Arkansas in 1924. Their babies weighed 14 lb and 13 lb 12 oz. Those are some large twins!! Their combined weight was over 27 pounds. Wow... wow is all I can say to that...

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Vivienne continues to lose more hair. A couple mornings ago, Jason brought down the burp cloth that we had under her head last night. At first, I honestly thought that he was bringing me a burp cloth that one of the cats had laid on, because it was covered in hair. =( It makes me sad that all of her hair is falling out, but I know that it will eventually grow back.

Lately, the babies have been sleeping really well. They have been going to sleep much easier than they used to. We usually have them in bed around 7 to 7:30. For the past few nights, they have been sleeping until 12:30 or 1 am. Then they wake up again around 4:30 or 5 am, and then they sleep until 7:30 or 8 in the morning. When they wake up, they really just lie there and coo and talk and wait for me and Jason to come get them instead of crying. This is great, because then we can get a few extra minutes of sleep while they hang out and gradually wake up.

When we go in to get them, they are usually bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready to face the day. The mornings are my favorite time, because they are both so happy, and they give us lots of smiles and sweet coos. It's wonderful to wake up to their beautiful little faces looking up at us. =)

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Well, last night, we let the babies "cry it out" for the first time. Unfortunately, this was not on purpose. Doh!

We put the babies to sleep in the nursery. Miles actually fell asleep around 6:30 just after we got home from our walk. Lila (his grandmother) put him down to sleep in his nursery. Vivienne ate around 6:30 and then we put her down around 7 or 7:30.

Our lovely neighbors were having a party - a particularly loud party. They started around 5 and went until after 10 PM, when we tried to go to sleep. They were singing and dancing and burning a fire in their back yard, which is adjacent to our back yard, so we had to close all the windows (even though it was 78 degrees in our room and nice and cool outside - grrr!!) and turn the fan in our room on high to cover the noise of the bass so that I could sleep. We brought the baby monitor into our room, but apparently we didn't turn it up loud enough.

Jason woke up around 12:30 in the morning (which was 7 hours after Miles had last eaten) and realized that we had not yet gotten up to feed the babies. When he went to check on them, Miles was crying a little bit and Vivienne was just chatting up a storm with her invisible friend (or maybe with Miles, who wasn't listening). We had no idea how long they had been awake.

When we got up this morning, Lila said that they had started crying around 11:45. So, we basically let Miles cry for 45 minutes on his own. I think Vivienne was also crying with him at the beginning, but she gave up after about 15 minutes.

After the 12:30 feeding, they went FOUR hours until 4:30 (which is actually really good for our babies). Then, after that feeding, they didn't really wake us up until after 8 AM, which was wonderful. They usually wake us up around 7 AM no matter when they last ate - I think the sunrise wakes them up. All in all, it was a great night for mom and dad, because we got to sleep for longer stretches.

So we inadvertently let our babies "cry it out" last night. At least they survived and they still seemed to love us this morning. =)

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Today was the day - we finally got our BOB duallie (double stroller) from REI. Their Fall sale started yesterday, so we headed out to our local REI to pick up the mother of all strollers. Until today, I have been doing my walks pushing the babies in our Double Snap-N-Go - basically a frame stroller that our infant carriers can snap into. While the Snap-N-Go is very convenient with the snap-in infant seats, it's not the smoothest ride for a long walk (between 2.5 and 3.5 miles), and it is very heavy to push. With the BOB, it's like riding on air. It literally almost moves on its own without any effort from me or Jason.

We called ahead to be sure our REI had the stroller we wanted, and we found out that they are 15% off during the sale. This is actually a bad thing, because REI gives each member a 20% off coupon that they can use on any non-sale item. With the 15% off, you can't use the coupon. Apparently, this is the way that they are going to do it from now on. The sales clerk at REI today said that they did this because they realized that they were losing a lot of money with the 20% off coupons during the sale. He said that the BOBs are the #1 item that REI sells during their Spring and Fall sales.

So, when we got to REI, we were ready to pay the 15% off price. They only had two floor models left (none in stock in the back), and the one that we wanted had a small tear on the foam around the handle. Because of this, we got an extra 5% off, so we really ended up with the 20% off price anyway - whoohoo!! (These stroller are expensive, so an extra 5% is something to get mildly excited about.) The other wonderful thing about these strollers is that you can resell them on Craigslist for nearly as much as you paid for them, if they are well maintained. We're already thinking ahead, of course. ;-)

The newest version of the BOB has a quick-release button that allows you to easily get your children out of the stroller. The problem with this design is that a child with any dexterity can very easily release their harness if they just learn to press the one button. Because of this, we opted for the "old" version of the BOB which includes the slightly trickier harness clips. I'm hopeful that this keeps Miles and Vivienne from escaping the harnesses and then freeing their sibling while I'm in the middle of a run! =)

You're really not supposed to ride a baby in the BOB until they have good head and neck control. Miles and Vivienne are 12 weeks old tomorrow, and they are still working on good head control. Miles has very strong muscles, and he has a pretty good handle on his head movements now. Vivienne is coming along as well, but she still bobbles her head around quite a bit. We sat them both in the stroller with the 5-point harnesses, and they seemed to be comfortable and well supported, so we decided to take them for a short walk to see how they did. I think they'll be fine using the new stroller for our walks. We'll probably still use the old Snap-N-Go for being out and about, though, because popping the infant carriers out of the car and into the Snap-N-Go without having to pick the babies up (and possibly wake them up) is so convenient.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Almost every day, I go for a 2.5 to 3.5 mile walk with the babies on the trails behind our home. I've really been enjoying experiencing nature with Miles and Vivienne. We have seen all kinds of wildlife on our walks - deer, rabbits, squirrels, snakes (one copperhead and one other large black snake) and tons of birds - finches, cardinals, woodpeckers, hawks, sparrows, wrens. The trees are gorgeous, and the leaves are just starting to change. It's so neat to see the leaves evolving to the beautiful fall colors.

The babies usually sleep a lot during our walks. Miles will often get restless and cry to be carried in the Baby Bjorn or the ring sling. He loves to look around at the top of the trees and the passers-by. I think he's going to love exploring the outdoors when he gets older. I hope that we can take our children hiking and backpacking someday in the future.

As we walk by the other nature lovers, they often comment about the twins or stop me to ask how old they are, whether they are a boy and a girl, etc. I look forward to our walk each and every day, and I feel so blessed to have such a beautiful place to explore with my babies.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

One of my favorite things is giving Miles and Vivienne their baths. I like to take their diapers off and carry them over to the little bath tub. I usually have one hand behind their head and one hand under their little tushies. I always tell Jason that I love the feel of their soft little baby bums. It's just so soft and sweet.

It won't be so sweet if they ever decide to relieve themselves while I'm porting them over to the bathtub, though...

The first night in the babies' room went really well. They stayed on their typical sleeping pattern - eating about every 3 hours. I'll be glad when they go a little longer between feedings on a more regular basis. Until then, we'll be waking up every 3 hours to feed them.

Jason sleeps in our bedroom with me. When the babies are ready to eat, he gets them and brings them to me while I set up my breastfeeding pillow. Then, when they are done eating, he'll change their diapers, burp them and put them back down. Luckily, we don't have to spend any time consoling them at night. We just lay them back down, and they drift off to sleep on their own.

It was nice to have them in their own room. I think I slept better without all the baby noises. We did have the baby monitor on all night, though. I think we'll eventually turn it off because the nursery is directly next door to our bedroom.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Right now, both babies are asleep in their crib in the nursery. Tonight will be their first night to sleep in their own room. Until now, they have slept in a crib in our room. They will still be sleeping together in the same crib (there is one crib in the nursery and one crib in our room). We probably won't separate them until they get much older and start waking each other up. Right now, they fit in the same crib quite nicely, and I like to think that they sleep better knowing that they are together. =)

Now, we'll have to see whether I love this setup, or whether I miss them tonight while I'm sleeping. It's bittersweet, I guess.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Miles and Vivienne hit 11 weeks yesterday. It's unclear to me when you stop counting their age in weeks and start counting in months. I guess we'll stick with weeks until they are 3 months old or so (which will be on October 18 - can't believe we're almost there!).

Miles weighed 12 pounds 8.5 oz this morning. Vivienne hit her first real double digits at 10 pounds 4.5 oz. They were born pretty close in size (6 pounds for Viv and 6.5 pounds for Miles, roughly), but now the difference in their sizes is quite noticeable. He is a chunky monkey, and she is a petite baby girl.

Vivienne has started to lose the hair on the top of her head. She has what sort of looks like male pattern baldness. I've heard that this is quite common, though, and it should grow back eventually. However, when her hair grows back, it could be an entirely different color or texture - very interesting. I'll be glad when she has her hair back. =)

We took the babies to church again yesterday and left them in the nursery during service. Things went very well. They didn't flash our number up on the screen, thank goodness! Both babies seem to do well with other people, but I don't think they are to the age yet where they start becoming apprehensive about strangers. They usually develop stranger and separation anxiety between 3 and 6 months. We're hopeful that between all the friends we have coming over, our wonderful doula Pam, the nursery at church and our Life Group, that the babies will be very comfortable with different people.